Indian Administrative Service (IAS)

Kurushetra Timeless Sanctity

Older than history ,older than traditional ,older than even legends, from the earliest times Kurushetra has been the cradle of civilisation.

It is not possible to write the history of this timeless city without acknowledgement that Kurushetra is also a theme, a metaphor of indian spirituality and mysticism-a confluence and mosaic of co-existence, in which the threads of myriad faiths are so intertwined that it is difficult to separate them. We cannaot understand Kurushetra without respecting religion. We sense here a force greater than ourselves. We honour life here and , in its stillness, find meaning in the inevitability of death. For millennia Kurushetra is the place where fears, doubts and dilemmas are settled.

The sutradhara or protagonist of the story of Kurushetra is undoubtedly Lord Krishna. He has immortalised this scared land by delivering the timeless sermon of Bhagavad Gita, the song celestial, to a bewildered Arjuna. The Gita is not an external dialogue, but an internal and intrinsic one. Its concern is the turmoil and conflict inside us. The prevaricating Arjuna is the mirror relection of each one of us , questionong the fatigue, futility and evanescence of life.